


On the other side of the mirror

by Athelye



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Romance, Bittersweet, Friendship/Love, Growing Old Together, M/M, Relationship(s), Sad and Happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 18:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18429455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athelye/pseuds/Athelye
Summary: There's this place on the other side of the mirror, made of buildings, made of stone. So grey and different from his. So chaotic and plenty of people. He can't hear the sound of it, because of the surface that keeps them apart, but he knows it has to be full of voices and noises.His world is so green and silent instead. You never meet more than one or two people around, exluding those who live in his same village.





	On the other side of the mirror

There's this place on the other side of the mirror, made of buildings, made of stone. So grey and different from his. So chaotic and plenty of people. He can't hear the sound of it, because of the surface that keeps them apart, but he knows it has to be full of voices and noises.

His world is so green and silent instead. You never meet more than one or two people around, exluding those who live in his same village.

That's why he always sits in front of that mirror. He likes to see people running around in their fancy dresses, carrying those weird squared bags.  
He hasn't anything similar. He wears only a pair of large linen trousers. Too hot to wear something else other than his necklace with a tiger tooth.

Some of them seem to smoke something similar to what his granny smokes with the other elders of the village, but in a thinner cylindrical thing.  
And they were all so different from one another. Their hair were black, red, blond, or even coloured, like purple or green!  
He's never met someone with non-black hair, at least not in person.  
Different complexion from his dark one, different eyes from his amber ones, different clothes. It's always fascinated him.  
Since he was a little kid, he sat in front of that mirror, a window to an other world so different from his, though so similar.

Now that he's a young man, he can't sit there, in the middle of the forest, to watch that world all day long. He has to hunt and fish for his village, to help the elders and teach the kids how to fight.  
But, every free moment he has, he spends it peeking the other side of the mirror.  
It's not water nor air the surface that divides the two worlds, but you can't neither touch or pass through it.

There are more of those mirror surfaces in that forest. He discovered four more mirrors, showing different worlds, but that one is his favourite.  
Two of them have people in it, one has weird, tall creatures with an eel-like shape, but they were bright yellow, like saffron. The last one shows some kind of underwater landscape, with all those species of fishes. It's fun to watch, too.  
The curious thing, though, is that almost no one seems to mind about the mirror. Nor any fellow villager of his, actually. They all think it's something with no real use but occasional entertainment. Maybe it was the same in the other worlds.

Between all of them, he loved the grey world more. Especially after spotting a young man who was the exact opposite of him.  
He has those deep blue eyes, like the sea when the sun sets, and that tumble of wild, white hair. Seems so soft.  
And his pale complexion! He shines in the crowd, like a falling star catches your attention between all the other shining dots on the dark sky.

One day they looked at each other and their eyes interlocked, and something clicked inside of them.  
The star-like young man approached the mirror, and him as a consequence.

Since then, they started seeing each other when they were near the mirror at the same time.  
They smile at each other, exchanging shy gestures and friendly looks.

Within days, he learns that the young, bright man always walks in front of that mirror around the same time each day.  
In the morning, the other only casts a smile at him, but when the sun sets, he always stops by to interact.  
Sometimes the other speaks to him, moving his lips in an unknown language. He learns his name, though.  
The other spells it slowly, waiting for him to repeat the same mute movement with his own mouth and tongue.  
_Kil-lu-a._  
When he tries to say his own, at first the other tilts his head to one side in question. Then, he repeats it until he thinks he says it right.

Months pass, and they grow closer. Now, they always step by to say something. Something the other can't understand, but it doesn't matter. They're word of affection, you can tell by their looks.  
They caress softly the surface, longing to feel the other's skin brushing against their own, but it never happens.

He wonders how Kil-lu-a's voice sounds. Is it deep like his? Or more soft? Does he whisper when he talks to him?

When the sun goes down, they see each other, and he likes to talk to Kil-lu-a. He tells him about his day, and the other seems to hear him, as if there is no haze keeping them apart.

_How cruel destiny, to fall for someone and be unable to even touch them._

Sometimes, they happen to meet in the dead of night, so they spend some time stargazing. Are they even watching the same sky, the same moon on those nights?

One night, in Kil-lu-a's world, all is covered in white. Kil-lu-a tries to say the name of that white and soft thing, but he keeps sneezing.  
He laughs hard every time, so Kil-lu-a raises his hand and shows him the middle finger.  
He doesn't know its meaning, but Kil-lu-a always does so when he's annoyed.  
He keeps chuckling lightly and the other's eyes soften.  
They make a step forward, smiling shyly. At the same time, they move closer and lean their foreheads against the surface of the mirror.  
They keep chasing the other's gaze, trying to brush the back of their hands through the thin layer that separates them.  
Their lips moving to form some whispered word of love no one can hear.

_How cruel feeling, to fall for someone and be unable to tell them._

In the village, nobody asks him about the man in the mirror no more. They all have understood now. At first, they called him a fool for chasing a shadow, falling for a ghost. Within time, they understood it wasn't the puppy love of a young man, but something deeper, capable of going far beyond the two themselves.  
It's painful to see him still going to see his beloved one, after years of meeting.  
But he isn't tired, none of the two is.  
They keep meeting, day after day, for years.

They grow old together. They look in each other's eyes, seeing the same young soul despite the age slipping slowly on their bodies.  
Grey beards grew on their faces and wrinkles in the corner of their eyes.  
His skin is more tan and has more scars on it, while the other's is more pale and his veins more visible.  
They now speak the same language, more or less, learning to read their lips as time passed.

He's built a hut to live in front of the mirror, in Kil-lu-a's side of it, the man told him, someone put a _'bench'_ for him. Or a _'pench',_ he isn't completely sure.  
It's like a large stool, and Kil-lu-a sits there all day long to stay next to him. He always brings these colourful box-shaped things. He calls them _'vooks',_ or something similar. They're funny things to see, like the weird object he sometimes puts on his nose when he uses a vook.

Now, Kil-lu-a stays out less, his world is colder in this time of the year and days are shorter.  
In front of his hut there are some kids, they often come to see the snow on the other side of the mirror and to hear stories from the eldest man of their tribe. Their favourite is the one with the black leopard.  
He narrates to the kids standing, so that Kil-lu-a can be part of the audience. Kil-lu-a often chuckles at his exaggerated expressions as if he's one of the children.

The day comes when he can't stand in front of the mirror as he always did. Some of the kids come to help him reach it, Kil-lu-a struggles walking, too. But they never give up and keep coming to see each other every day.

Somehow, one day, they just know there's no more time left for them.  
They glanced at each other like the first time, with their lips sewn together but curved up.  
When the sun goes down, they find the strength to stand and walk up to the mirror one last time.

_How sweet the love of two, to get over all the boundaries standing between two lovers._

They looked at each other with misty eyes, both smiling at the young man they were still seeing in front of themselves.  
They caressed softly the surface that kept them apart for all their lives but also so close, thanking it for making them meet.

Before leaving, for the first and last time, he heard the other.

_"Farewell, Gon. See you soon on the other side of the mirror."_

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> Long time no see, how are you?  
> I wrote this thing in like a less than a day, today, sooo.. Dunno, just feel like writing it.
> 
> I'm posting it right now because I'm satisfied with the result, and I'm afraid if I wait I'll burn it to erase it for good.  
> I hope you like it, btw! Leave a comment if you want, I'd really appreciate it ^^
> 
> Byeee ~♡
> 
> ~ Athelyè
> 
>  
> 
> [~ tumblr](http://athelyewrites.tumblr.com/)


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